 Writing off an adult dependent
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 Dear
Tax Talk,
We have a son, now 23, who graduated from school four years ago. He only worked one and a half years out of that time. He did not have the grades for college due to mental illness and addiction problems, not to mention a host of legal problems that drained our savings. He has been a dependent in all forms otherwise. We are out over $25,000 in various support.
Are you telling me just because we are rich and politically connected enough to wipe his record clean and put him in Yale, we do not have the luxury of tax write-offs?
-- Susan
 Dear Susan,
Tax write-offs are never luxuries. They go to the people who need
them most -- sometimes. I'm not sure what kind of write-offs you're
looking at and who's telling you that you're not entitled to them.
If your son was over the age of 19 and not in school at least half-time,
you cannot claim him as an exemption if his income exceeded the
amount of personal exemption for that year ($3,200 in 2005). This
may be an impediment for the one and a half years he worked.
If he was in a drug addiction treatment program that
you paid for during the time he was your dependent, you can count
these expenses as your medical expenses, in addition to any costs
associated with his mental illness.
However, legal fees and costs are not deductible even if they are a result of mental illness. Whether or not he has a clean record, the tax law does not provide many more tax write-offs for this situation.
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